Volume Two Prologue

I found Revi walking along the marketplace of Axel.

The strange part is that he had a girl I didn't know beside him.

They were talking naturally, as if they were completely at ease with one another.

She wasn't an ordinary girl, either.

She was a beautiful girl with Crimson Demon features, long, black hair and red eyes.

She was wearing a white sundress that hugged her womanly curves and a straw hat.

"Hmm, I wonder who that girl with Revi-san is?"

Rorisa, my succubus party member, was beside me as we spied on the two.

The lady running the kebab stall seemed to be running out of patience as we used her stall as cover. We moved to another place to hide before she could kick us out.

"Do they give off the energy that they're on a date?"

Rorisa-san considered my question carefully.

"If they're on a date, I'd say it's the first date, or the prelude to the first date. They seem close, but they're not holding hands. Their shoulders aren't even touching."

An acute observation, I must admit.

"...Wait, what in the heck is a 'prelude to the first date'?"

"Forgive me, I forget that Iris-san lacks the common knowledge of commoners. I suppose it would be a trial period where a girl determines if a guy is worth their time for a first date."

"Wouldn't that just be a normal first date?"

I haven't gone on any dates, but I couldn't tell the difference between a first date and a prelude date.

"First dates still have expectations. Most guys expect, at the very least, a kiss at the end, right? Especially if they paid for the restaurant bills and other date-related activities."

"Well… I suppose…"

"There's also the expectation that the girl is supposed to make up her mind if she wants to keep seeing the guy for future dates after the first date. First dates are like job tryouts, in a sense, and there's quite a lot of social pressure involved. That's why prelude dates are sometimes necessary."

"I understand now, somewhat."

If that's the case, isn't Revi's 'prelude date' going pretty well?

That mystery girl is laughing at every joke he says and she's been making eye contact all this time.

"Rorisa-san, don't you feel kind of pissed off looking at this?"

"Eh? Why should I? Shouldn't we be happy that Revi-san found himself a beautiful girl to potentially go out with? Maybe I'll get to catch more breaks, then."

"What can I say… Doesn't it make you mad to see a random girl suddenly dating your guy friend? Even if you don't care about him as a romantic partner, you still feel a bit frustrated."

"I feel like I heard those words from somewhere before…"

"And in my case, Revi is technically my childhood friend. Seeing your male childhood friend being taken away by some random girl is…"

"Ah, well I do understand that… Wait, isn't that just jealousy?"

I shook my head and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, Rorisa-san, just as I'm not used to how commoners think, I'm sure that a devil race like Rorisa-san doesn't quite understand how our thought process works as human beings. When you see a guy friend going out with some random girl and you feel irritated, it's just a natural reaction. It doesn't have to be jealousy."

"So what is this natural reaction then, if it's not jealousy?"

"I guess it'll be the irritation that comes when a friend doesn't inform you about these things. Don't you think it's a bit unfair that our friend and party member didn't tell us about this date he's going on, prelude date or not? How would you feel if Komekko-chan started going out on a date with a random dude without telling us?"

"I'll be angry, too, but I think I'll be angry because Komekko-chan is someone that should be protected, not because of any other reason."

She had a point there, but I continued,

"Be that as it may, doesn't Rorisa-san feel a bit annoyed seeing Revi going all googly-eyed with some girl we've never seen before? He has us beautiful girls to hang out with, and yet he feels the need to wag his tail for another girl?"

"...Why is Iris-san talking about him like he's a dog? And it's not like he's dating any one of us, I don't think he needs to be faithful to us or anything."

"No, no, it should hurt your pride as a woman that he didn't ask you out on a date first before asking this random girl out."

"Well, I am a succubus, not a woman. I suppose it's kind of like having your frequent customer suddenly switch to someone else. But why should Iris-san be upset in this case, then? Hasn't Revi-san asked you to be his girlfriend many times before? I don't think Iris-san has the right to be upset now that he's moved on."

Moved… on!?

Since when did this guy get to be so choosy?

"Oi, don't make me out to be some petty bitch here!"

"Ah, I didn't mean it like that, please don't shake me! Oh, it seems they've moved out of the marketplace."

"...! Follow them before we lose them!"

I let go off Rorisa-san's shoulders as we followed Revi and the mystery girl to their next destination.

Hello! I am happy to announce that BoringBone and joined this stories team!

BB is a writing machine when the mood hits, so maybe things will happen faster from here on outs!?